Pillow cases



Sept. 27, 1966 c. A. MCCARTHY PILLOW CASES Original Filed Aug. 2, 1963 FIG. I.

(/7 FIG. 6.

M FIG. 5.

INVENTOR. CHARLES A. M CARTHY BY ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,274,623 PILLOW CASES Charles A. McCarthy, 342 Beach 40th St., Far Rockaway, N.Y. Continuation of application Ser. No. 300,139, Aug. 2, 1963. This application Oct. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 495,205 3 Claims. (Cl. 339) This application is a continuation of my application Serial No. 300,139, filed August 2, 1963, for Pillow Cases, now abandoned.

This invention relatm to pillow cases of standard as well as all other sizes and dimensions and of whatever suitable material they may be made, and a primary object of the invention is the provision of a novel and improved combination of a pillow case with a pocket formed thereon.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a combination pillow case and pocket wherein the latter is positioned conveniently at hand and is adapted to contain any needed or desired article which the pocket can accommodate. As a consequence, a person in bed need not reach or grope in the dark for such an article or articles which ordinarily are placed on a table or the like at the bedside. Merely by way of example, among such articles are facial tissues, handkerchiefs, watches, Rosary beads, and small keepsakes.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a combination pillow case and pocket wherein the pocket is reversible, that is, it may be reversed from one side of the pillow case to the opposite side, according to the needs or desires of the individual. For example, in obverse position the pocket may be handier for a righthanded person, and in reverse position for a left-handed person. There are also other advantages resulting from the reversability of the pocket, which it is believed unnecessary to discuss in detail. But in the case where a pillow case has but one surface ornamented or otherwise suitable for exposure in a made up bed, when it is desired not to have the pocket exposed on that surface, reversing of the pocket makes it invisible and hidden from View. 1

The above as well as additional objects will be clarified in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the details shown or described except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fiat pattern view of a preferably square sheet of material out of which the pocket is formed, showing also in broken lines a diagonal fold line.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the said sheet after it has been doubled back on the fold line, to form the pocket.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating how the folded sheet of FIG. 2 is positioned at a corner between the two flaps of the large sheet of which the pillow case is made, with the latter turned inside out.

FIG. 4 is a similar perspective view showing the next step wherein the two corners of the pillow case flaps are in position on opposite sides of the folded sheet of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the pocket sewed within the inside-out pillow case and the two adjacent edges of the pillow case sewed together.

FIG. 6 is .a view similar to FIG. 5 except that in the former the pillow case has the proper or right side out; to emphasise the distinction between the wrong side and the right side of the pillow case, the former is shown plain and the latter is shown decorated.

3"274,623 Patented Sept. 27, 1966 FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the combination pillow case and pocket as it may appear with a pillow therein, ready for use.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 shows a pillow case normally made of a single sheet of material of twice the size of the pillow case by folding it along a longitudinal median line so that, for example, the median fold line becomes the edge 11, FIG. 5, of the shaped inside-out case, and then sewing along the edges 12 and 13, all in the usual manner. When then the case is turned out-side in from the showing thereof in FIG. 5 to the showing in FIG. 6, the ornamented surface of the right side of the material is on the outside or visible side.

The ordinary pillow case is made in the manner just set forth, with, additional, a hem 14 around the entrance mouth of the case.

The method of manufacture of the instant pillow case follows along the same lines except for the inclusion of a reversible pocket. For the manufacture of the pocket a sheet 15, which is preferably rectangular in conformation as shown in FIG. 1, is doubled back along a diagonal fold line 16 to form a right-triangular two-ply pocket wall 17 having the hypotenuse of the triangle coincident with the fold line 16, FIG. 2. The two plies of the wall 17 are indicated at 21 and 22.

With the doubled-back sheet of which the pillow case is formed, and prior to any sewing or stitching, the two opposed walls 18 and 19 thereof are positioned as shown in FIG. 3, and the pocket wall 17 is positioned between the pillow case walls at complementary corners thereof. In both FIGS. 3 and 4 the deformation of the two walls of the pillow case following insertion of the pocket wall 17 therebetween, is magnified in order to clarify the construction. FIG. 4 shows the relative positions of the pillow case walls and the pocket wall plies just prior to sewing along the edges 12 and 13 in completing or finishing the pillow case and the pocket wall. FIG. 5 shows the finished combination after the sewing, in wrong-sideout condition, and it is turned inside-out into the condition shown in FIG. 6, with the right side out to expose the normally visible ornamented surface. Thus a pocket is provided between the wall 17 and the adjacent wall of the pillow case. Of course both sides of the pillow case may be ornamented, or both sides may be plain.

FIG. 7 shows the appearance of the pillow case and the pocket wall 17 with, merely by way of example, a handkerchief 20 contained therein. It is readily apparent from FIGS. 6 and 7 that the pocket wall 17 may readily be turned around the corner of the pillow case, owing to the ready yieldability of both the fabrics of which the two parts are made, to reverse the pocket to the opposite side of the pillow case; that is, so that the pocket wall ply 22, rather than the ply 21, is exposed, and the ply 21 is adjacent the pillow case wall 18. Such reversal of the pocket may be achieved either when the pillow case is empty or when it is filled with a pillow.

It is to be noted that the pillow case illustrated and described lacks any fringe-like or flange-like border external to the circumferential edge of the pillow-containing body. In other words, the instant pillow case is borderless. This is a necessary condition to enable the pocket to be reversed without any substantial diminution in the capacity of the reversed pocket or deformation of the shape of that corner of the pillow case. If the pillow case had such a border, on reversing the pocket wall the dimensions and capacity of the reversed pocket would not only be reduced but the inside of the reversed pocket would be largely occupied and blocked by the corner portion of the border which must necessarily be contained therein.

Thus a very useful and practical combination pillow case and reversible pocket has been provided. While the invention has been described with particular reference to the construction and method of manufacture illustrated in the drawing, such is not to be construed as a limitation upon the invention which is best defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A combination pillow case and pocket construction adapted to be turned inside-out foruse on a pillow, wherein one wall of a pocket comprises a relatively small right-triangular two-ply sheet of fabric consisting of a doubled-back rectangular sheet doubled back along a diagonal fold line and the pillow case consists of a doubled back relatively large rectangular sheet of fabric doubled back along a median fold line through the longitudinal edges of the sheet thereby providing opposed pillow case walls, said pocket wall being mounted in a corner of the doubled-back pillow case sheet opposite said fold line thereof with the mutually right-angle edges of the pocket wall plies positioned between the corresponding mutually adjacent edges of the pillow case walls and said pocket wall positioned wholly between said pillow case walls, and stitching extending along the length of and through said edges of the pillow case walls and hence also through said edges of said pocket wall plies.

2. A combination borderless pillow case and pocket construction consisting of a rectangular pillow case and a reversible pocket wall having substantially the conformation of a right triangle, said pocket wall being positioned on a corner of the pillow case and having the mutually right-angle edges thereof attached to and superimposed on the corresponding edges of the pillow case thereby forming a pocket between said pocket wall and the adjacent side of the pillow case, said pocket wall thereby being reversible from said adjacent side of the pillow case to the opposite side thereof by turning the pocket inside-out, without substantial diminution in the internal dimensions and capacity of the reversed pocket.

3. A combination according to claim 1, wherein at least one side of the pillow case bears ornamentation and said pocket is reversible from one side of the pillow case to the other side thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner FOREIGN PATENTS 118,749 9/1918 Great Britain.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

A. M. CALVERT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A COMBINATION PILLOW CASE AND POCKET CONSTRUCTION ADAPTED TO BE TURNED INSIDE-OUT FOR USE ON A PILLOW, WHEREIN ONE WALL OF A POCKET COMPRISES A RELATIVELY SMALL RIGHT-TRIANGULAR TWO-PLY SHEET OF FABRIC CONSISTING OF A DOUBLE-BACK RECTANGULAR SHEET DOUBLED BACK ALONG A DIAGONAL FOLD LINE AND THE PILLOW CASE CONSISTS OF A DOUBLE BACK RELATIVELY LARGE RECTANGULAR SHEET OF FABRIC DOUBLED BACK ALONG A MEDIAN FOLD LINE THROUGH THE LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF THE SHEET THEREBY PROVIDING OPPOSED PILLOW CASE WALLS, SAID POCKET WALL BEING MOUNTED IN A CORNER OF THE DOUBLED-BACK PILLOW CASE SHEET OPPOSITE SAID FOLD LINE THEREOF WITH THE MUTUALLY RIGHT-ANGLE EDGES OF THE POCKET WALL PLIES POSITIONED BETWEEN THE CORRESPOND-A ING MUTUALLY ADJACENT EDGES OF THE PILLOW CASE WALLS AND SAID POCKET WALL POSITIONED WHOLLY BETWEEN SAID PILLOW CASE WALLS, AND STITCHING EXTENDING ALONG THE LENGTH OF AND THROUGH SAID EDGES OF THE PILLOW CASE WALLS AND HENCE ALSO THROUGH SAID EDGES OF SAID POCKET WALL PLIES. 